Empty Tomb Cookies

I am so glad that the Easter Season last for 50 days because it gives me a chance to use many of the Easter ideas.  My treat for CCD is empty tomb cookies.  The story of how you make them is really cool so I am attaching the recipe.  We aren't making them in class, since I will not have them tomorrow morning when they are finished, but we will talk about how they were made.

Here is the recipe, Enjoy!

Empty Tomb Cookies

Ingredients

1 cup whole pecans, in a plastic baggie

1 teaspoon vinegar

3 egg whites

1 pinch salt

1 cup sugar

Directions

Preheat oven to 500 degrees--you MUST do it now. Also, gather a cooking mallet, kitchen mixer, masking tape and Bible.

Read John 19:1-3 ~ Jesus was beaten for our sins; beat the nuts with a cooking mallet; set aside.

Read John 19:28-30 - Jesus drank something like vinegar (gall), sniff the fragrance, dip finger in and taste, too; place the vinegar in a mixing bowl.

Read John 10:10-11 - Egg whites symbolize Jesus' holy, innocent life; add whites to the bowl with the vinegar.

Read Luke 23:27 - the bitter tears of the women; taste a few grains, remember your own sins; add the salt to the bowl.

Read Psalm 34:8 and John 3:16 - Sweet salvation! Taste and see; add to the bowl.

Crank up the mixer and let it go while you read from Isaiah 1:18 and John 3:1-3; let the mixer go for about 12-15 MINUTES; this needs to be VERY stiff!

Read Matthew 27:57-60 - Fold the nuts into the egg-sugar mixture; this symbolizes the rocks in the garden.  Using a scoop or knife & spoon, drop by spoon into mounds (to resemble a rocky tomb); put into the oven and turn it OFF!

Read Matthew 27:65-66 - The tomb is sealed; use two pieces of tape (5-6 inches long) to "seal" the door edges (symbolically).

Read John 16:20 & 22 - Consider these passages, then go to bed!

NEXT MORNING: Read Matthew 28:1-9 - Jesus is risen! Behold--the empty tomb! Unseal the oven door, take out the cookies, break or bite one in half -- it should be hollow inside---empty---just like the Tomb!

He is risen! He is risen indeed! Hallelujah!

Serpent on a Pole

The Israelites are almost ready to move into the Promised land, but before they do, they once more complain  about Moses and God.  To punish the people God sends seraph serpents which bite them and cause death.  The Israelites repent of their sin and ask God to heal them.  God instructs Moses to make a pole and put a serpent on the pole.  When the Israelites look at the serpent on the pole, with faith, they are healed of their snake bites.  The serpent on the pole prefigures Jesus on the cross, Jesus heals us of our sins.

My thought for the treat was a good thought, but the finished product did not turn out as well as I had hoped it would.  I made soft pretzel crosses and hoped to find gummy serpents but could only find gummy worms to tie on the cross with licorice.  The students did enjoy the soft pretzels and gummy worms even if they did not look so good.

Seder Meal

Every year during Holy week I host a Seder meal for their class.  Here are the symbolic foods that we had for our Meal:

Four cups of wine; The cup of Sanctification, The cup of plagues, The cup of Blessing, and The cup of Praise

Parsley-The Passover holidays come in the spring, when the earth turns green with new life. Only God can create life and keep it alive. This green parsley is the sign of life.

Salt water-while the Israelites were still slaves in Egypt, their life was miserable. The salt water stands for their tears.

Matzoh (in the white cloth) -On all other nights the Israelites ate any kind of bread, but on Passover they ate matzoh, unleavened bread. When their ancestors left Egypt, they were in such a hurry they didn't have time to let their dough rise. Instead, the baked it flat. The Scriptures tell us that leaven is a symbol of sin.

Horseradish (bitter herbs)- to remember how bitter life was for their ancestors in Egypt.

Haroset-The Israelites worked very hard to make brick and clay to build cities for Pharaoh. They remember this in a mixture called haroset, made from apples, cinnamon, honey and nuts.

Lamb shank-This bone stands for the lamb whose blood on the Israelite houses was a sign to God. The blood will show their obedience; when God saw the blood, he passed over them and no plague  touched  them when God punished Egypt.

Egg-traditional offering brought to the Temple on feast days.The egg is now a symbol of mourning, reminding us of the destruction of the holy temple in Jerusalem.  The hardness of the shell also reminds us of the hardness of Pharaoh's heart.

Group picture before our celebration.